The Antique Love Read Free Page A

bear to hear his cynicism.
    He moved a slow, careful finger over the pearls in the centre of his palm, and she was suddenly afraid that the pendant she loved so fervently was literally in the wrong hands. There was something in the way Kurt was studying it—something a little too remote, too controlled. All the warmth and charm in those grey eyes didn’t mask the reserve in the way he carried himself and the distance he kept from people.
    Penny knew she was being ridiculously romantic again, but she didn’t care. Kurt didn’t seem remotely like a guy who’d ever known what it was to love. It would be a tragedy to see her delicate love token around the neck of a casual fling, a girl the cowboy was dating just to while away his time in London. The pearls and the silver heart enclosing them were things of rare beauty, with a life all of their own. There was no way she was going to let them go to a man as unemotional as this one appeared to be. They deserved more .
    But she didn’t want to judge Kurt before giving him a chance. There was nothing for it but to ask him a personal question and hope he didn’t think she was crazy. She cleared her throat.
    “The person you’re buying for,” she said. “Is she a close friend?”
    Kurt looked up from the pendant, meeting her gaze with quick understanding. He gave a brief laugh. “Do you mean am I buying for a girlfriend?” He shook his head. “No.”
    He seemed to find the thought amusing. Penny released her breath in relief as he replaced the pendant on its tiny brass hook.
    “I’m looking for a present for my sister,” he continued.
    “ Oh .” So it wasn’t a girlfriend. Penny gave him a brilliant smile out of all proportion to his answer and then quickly tried to wipe it off her face in case he thought she was some sort of idiot. Her beloved pendant was back in its cabinet, safe from the hands of this reserved customer, and at that moment, that was all she cared about.
    “In that case, perhaps a love token wouldn’t be quite appropriate.”
    Kurt laughed again. “I don’t think so,” he said. “My sister would tell me I’ve finally lost my mind.”
    “Oh,” Penny said again. She tried to imagine the taciturn man joking with his sister. Maybe he wasn’t as guarded with the people close to him as he appeared. For the past half hour in her company, he’d barely spoken. He’d just kept his watchful eyes on her whilst she did all the talking.
    “You seem very attached to that heart,” he said now. “I’d say you didn’t even want to sell it.”
    “Oh, I’d love to sell it.” Penny stopped before her stupid tongue ran away with her again. The intense emotional attachment she sometimes formed for the shop’s items had been one of the things about her that often annoyed David. Part of what he meant when he’d dubbed her ridiculously romantic , she supposed. She considered making up some reason for not selling it to Kurt—maybe tell him something about it being half-promised to another customer—and then suddenly it seemed important to her that this quiet stranger understood.
    “It’s not that I don’t want to sell it,” she said, trying to choose her words. “It’s just that it has to go to the right person.” She wrinkled her forehead whilst Kurt waited. He seemed to know how important this was to her. In the end she lifted the end of the pendant with one swift finger. The stones danced and shimmered back to life.
    “Just look at it,” she said. Didn’t he see? “I could fall in love with the beauty of it. Think of the hours of work and the craftsmanship and the century of history behind it. The person who leaves the shop with this pendant will buy it because he has to have it. And he won’t be buying it on a whim. He’ll be buying it for the woman he loves with a passion.” She stepped back, cheeks heating, aware she’d finished her declaration on what was an eccentrically dramatic note. She lifted her chin, expecting mockery, and